William Sangster was a stalwrt, Bible-believing minister
“who helped guide Londoners through the horrors of the bombings of
London in World War II. Sangster developed a disease that progressively
paralyzed his body, and eventually his vocal chords. On the Easter
morning just before he died, he managed to scribble a short note to his
daughter. The note read: “How terrible to wake up on Easter and have no
voice to shout, ‘He is Risen!’ However, it is far worse to have a voice
and not want to shout, ‘He is Risen!’” 3
We rejoice in Christ’s resurrection and the life we have
in Him. However, it is troubling to find that there are teachings out
there that say that all you need to believe to be saved is that Christ
died for your sins. Some say that faith in Christ’s resurrection isn’t
necessary to be saved because our salvation is based solely on Christ’s
payment for our sins at the Cross, and they’ll intentionally leave out
the Resurrection. However, this is not Pauline. The gospel of the grace
of God includes the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul
stresses in his letters the importance of believing that Christ is
risen from the dead. Note the following verses:
“And therefore it was imputed to him for
righteousness…But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we
believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead” (Romans
4:22,24).
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9).
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also
received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures; And that He was buried, and that He rose again the
third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3,4).
“And that He died for all, that they which live should
not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and
rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:15).
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even
so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him” (1 Thessalonian
4:14).
Unbelievers must trust that Christ is risen in order to
be saved, so believers need to stress Christ’s death and
resurrection when they share the gospel of grace. When Paul writes
about our spiritual baptism with Christ, we are not only identified
with His death, but also His burial and resurrection (Romans
6:3,4). According to Colossians 2:10, we “are complete in Him,” because
we have been identified with Christ’s death, burial, and
resurrection ( 2:11,12) the moment we believed in His death,
burial, and resurrection.
Christ died for our sins and… He rose again the third
day. Don’t leave out the resurrection! It’s crucial to our faith and
salvation. We have God’s Word on it. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians
15:17, “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain [empty]; ye are yet
in your sins.” But because “Christ is risen from the dead,” those “in
Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:20,22). That should
cause us to want to shout for joy!
“Jesus our Lord…was delivered for our offences, and was
raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:24, Colossians 2:5).
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